Ken Weller (1935-2021)

Ken Weller, who died on 25 January 2021 at the age of eighty-five, is to be remembered for at least three reasons: as a central figure in the innovative libertarian socialist group Solidarity; as one of the Spies for Peace; and as a passionate exponent of working-class history, particularly of his native London. He grew up in Islington; his father George was a plumber; his mother Christine (née O’Toole and originally from Kilkenny) died when he was eleven; and he became an electrician. He joined the Young Communist League (YCL) in 1951, but was not part of the exodus of 1956 from the Communist Party, being involved instead in a dissident group producing its own paper with a circulation of 800. He seems to have been expelled in 1957–8 and immediately moved to Trotskyism and the Socialist Labour League (SLL) from which, in turn, he was expelled as early as...

Art history · Communism · Economic history · George (robot) · League · Political science · Solidarity · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US